KC OPENS SEASON AT HOME SATURDAY | Rangers open against Mexico’s Monterrey Tech at 7 p.m.
The Kilgore College Rangers begin their quest for a third straight Texas junior college conference title on Saturday – but first, they’ll have to deal with Monterrey Tech.
Never heard of Monterrey Tech?
KC head football coach Willie Gooden has.
“(New Mexico Military Institute) scrimmaged them in ’22,” Gooden said. “Mary Hardin Baylor has played them the last few years. Last year, it was a really close game. You’re talking ‘bout a program that’s got 17 national championships.
“I like that rush. I like the pressure. You’ve got a legitimate opponent in front of you. And we’ll be ready to go.”
Tech, a four-year program in Mexico, will be here Saturday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium, the 2024 season opener for both the Rangers and for Tech.
For tickets, click here: Kilgore College vs Monterrey Tech | Kilgore College Box Office (hometownticketing.com).
For KC on YouTube, here you go: kilgorecollege1935 – YouTube.
In other games involving teams in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference this Saturday, Trinity Valley hosts Independence (Kansas) Community College, and Cisco hosts TWA College. All the other SWJCFC teams are open.
KC is ranked fourth in the NJCAA’s preseason poll, behind No. 1 Iowa Western, No. 2 East Mississippi, and No. 3 Hutchinson (Kan). Those are also the four teams that made the NJCAA’s national playoff a year ago.
As for Monterrey Tech, see this old story we found on Tech on ESPN, by writer Eric Gomez (How Monterrey Tech used NFL, NCAA connections to elevate college football in Mexico – ESPN). That’ll give you some idea of what Tech has been: Gomez compares them in that piece to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Tech, known as the Borregos Salvajes (the “Wild Rams”), began its program in 1975 under coach Francisco “Frank” Gonzalez and won 16 of its 17 national championships under his guidance – Gonzalez coached the team for 26 years.
Now, about those Rangers…
Gooden said his team is mainly healthy.
“We’re still a little wounded,” he admitted, from practices and recent intrasquad scrimmages. “But we’ve done a good job on recruiting, and I think we’re good.”
KC finished 9-2 last year, winning not only their second-straight Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship (they defeated Navarro in the title game, here at R.E. St. John), but also reaching the national final four playoff, the NJCAA’s national championship playoff.
They lost in the semifinals to Iowa Western.
The schedule is a little different this year than most.
Obviously, it’s Monterrey Tech that KC faces in the opener, not the usual non-conference game against rival Tyler Junior College. This year, the Rangers only meet Tyler once: late in the year in a conference game. There’s no non-conference matchup between the two.
KC is off almost two weeks before it takes the field again. That won’t be until Saturday, Sept. 14, a home game against aforementioned NMMI, a 3 p.m. kickoff that day, and that’s the conference opener.
The following week, on Saturday, Sept. 21, it’s a rematch of last year’s conference championship: KC vs. Navarro in Corsicana, and that one is prime time (7 p.m.).
KC hosts Cisco to close out September (Sept. 28), and then steps out of conference to host Community Christian College on Oct. 5.
The Rangers take a break Oct. 12, an open date, and then visit Trinity Valley Oct. 19. They play at Tyler at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium on Oct. 26; host Blinn on Nov. 2; and then make a long road trip to complete the regular season, all the way to Miami (pronounced MY-am-UH), Oklahoma to face Northeastern Oklahoma A&M on Nov. 9.
Hey, nobody said it was easy being the two-time defending conference champions.